September 05, 2006

Let the chips fall...

Did the Softwood Lumber deal the US just made with Canada include a $450 million slush fund channeled to the White House from the Canadians? Could be. Buried in the text of the recently-agreed softwood lumber agreement with our neighbors to the North is a clause which says that the Canadian timber industry must

... sign over $450 million to an escrow fund slated to be conveyed to the White House. The agreement does not mention Congress, and the Bush administration says that Congress will not be involved in any way with this agreement. The government of Canada thus is making a gift of $450 million to be spent by the president. That was more than a belt buckle, even more than a stetson, on July 6th. There is only one date certain in the deal: that the planned expenditure of the $450 million must be determined by September 1.

By law and by the US Constitution, all monetary gifts to the US must go into the Treasury. If this trade lawyer's analysis is correct, the Bush Administration is once again breaking the law. That's bad enough, but from a political point of view, imagine Karl Rove with $450M to spend on Congressional campaigns in this year's midterms.

There's a much more thorough analysis here. The full text of the lawyer's remarks can be found here.

Posted by Linkmeister at September 5, 2006 11:16 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Thanks very much for linking to this, Mr. Meister.

My hair has been on fire about this, but I thought nobody in the states would notice!

Posted by: lambert strether at September 6, 2006 11:30 AM

HOW CAN WE GET THE N.Y. TIMES TO INVESTIGATE THIS ?? MAKES MONICA LOOK LIKE CHILDS PLAY ??

Posted by: JIM CRONOVER at September 7, 2006 09:58 AM

Maybe we can get the LA Times to do it...

Posted by: lambert strether at September 11, 2006 10:03 AM